I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
gonna throw my troubles away
This time two weeks ago I was at Massey Hall in Toronto, listening to comedian/actor Jason Mantzoukas asking an accountant in the audience whether he was better off converting his assets to jewels or to ladies underpants.
The legendary concert hall was the venue for the one Canadian stop on the How Did This Get Made? podcast tour. It was packed. I’ve been to Massey Hall countless times, but never to see anything comedy related, only music. Mantzoukas was clearly thinking of the venue’s musical history as well, since the first thing he said (shouted) when he took the stage was “I’M ON A STAGE WHERE JONI MITCHELL PERFORMED!”
I came to How Did This Get Made? later than most, despite being an inveterate podcast enthusiast. I’d heard about it- it has been going for more than a dozen years- but I’d never listened, assuming that comedians talking shit about bad movies wasn’t really going to be my thing. I’d left the “oooh this is so bad it’s good” schtick in the 90s, I figured.
What sucked me in finally was when writer Roxane Gay posted that she was going to be the guest on one episode, discussing a movie she’d picked herself (Michael Bay’s Ambulance). Roxane Gay being involved made me immediately think I’d been too quick to dismiss the podcast. I listened to her episode, which was incredible, and that was it for me. I worked my way through their back catalog, quickly absorbing all of the inside jokes and standard rhythms of the live episodes, which I always prefer to the in-studio ones. The podcast became a weekly mini-vacation away from whatever stress was populating my life. An hour or so to laugh, marvel, and hang out with my parasocial podcast friends.
For the uninitiated, How Did This Get Made is about bad movies. Each week the three hosts- Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael, and Paul Scheer (or, as I explained it to my friends Megan and David who are big Parks and Recreation fans but not podcast listeners: “Dennis Feinstein, Tynnyfer, and Kaboom”) watch a terrible movie and then meet to discuss their impressions. They’re all hilarious people, so their discussions are funny enough on their own. But when they record the show in front of an audience things really escalate to a whole new level of mayhem and humour. There are audience questions, very specific cheering, parody songs, and an audience-wide acceptance of being repeatedly insulted by Jason Mantzoukas. I know, it sounds like a kooky nightmare if you aren’t already a member of this harmless little cult. But from the inside, it is amazing.
I really wanted to go to a live show, after listening to so many episodes, some of which made me laugh painfully hard. I told my husband that for my 50th birthday (which can, as far as I understand, be celebrated at any point during the year in which it falls) I wanted to go to one of the live shows. I got as far as looking at shows in Chicago and L.A. and checking prices for flights.
Then Trump took office. Then the L.A. fires happened. And it seemed like maybe a trip south of the border was not in the cards.
But THEN. Then a show in Toronto was announced. I don’t know if I’ve ever arranged a trip so fast. I’m an anxious traveller, so usually it takes me months to plan anything and it’s rare that I’ll actually go through with a trip instead of just calling it off. But this one all came together quickly and off I went to Toronto, where I got to visit a bunch of cool friends as an added bonus. And, shaken from the comfort zone that I admittedly cling to, I somehow relaxed and had a great time.
All this to say, I recommend going out and doing stuff. It doesn’t have to be a live podcast taping for weirdos. It’s just as nice to go to a reading or a concert or a lecture. For me, it takes a lot of mental effort to go out, especially when I’m on deadline for a book and/or when the alternative is lying in bed with the dog watching Taskmaster. But it is good to be with other people. And it’s super good to support art in all forms. So please tell me in the comments where you’re planning to go next! I’m going on Friday to Vegans Who Snack, then next week I’m taking myself to see the movie Jane Austen Ruined My Life. I’m not going to add a “how to help” suggestion this month because going somewhere to support something IS my how to help suggestion.
May 2025 - Songs
A song I currently can’t get enough of is Hurray For The Riff Raff’s “Alibi”. They’re coming to play at Cityfolk Ottawa this summer and that’s one show that I’m very excited to leave my house for.
Another thing I went out to do recently was to meet my friend Martha* to watch the superb movie The Ballad of Wallis Island. I love a fake band in a movie (hellllloooo Josie and the Pussycats) and this movie happens to have an entire soundtrack of really lovely songs that the fake band would have recorded in the fake world of the movie. This is such beautiful, mellow folk music. My favourites are currently “Morning Evening” and “Sweetheart”.
(Reminder: every single song that I have ever recommended in this newsletter appears on this whopper of a playlist. It’s fun to listen to on shuffle if you like hearing Def Leppard followed by John Prine.)
*Fun fact about our night out at the movies is that I had completely forgotten we’d bought tickets and made plans, and was literally in my pajamas in bed at 6:30 PM when Martha texted me saying she’d see me soon. Never happier to live ten minutes away from the Bytowne Cinema.
May 2025 - Feelings
This year at the spring edition of the Ottawa Writers Fest I had the privilege of interviewing both Jackie Lau and Uzma Jalaluddin about their new books. It was a real delight for me because I loved both these books and I’m not just saying that because I met both the authors and they were nice. These are two legit bangers.
Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau was absolutely absorbing. I love a time loop story because of the creative ways different storytellers tackle the idea, and it was so fun to see how unique (and food-focused) Lau’s version is. This is a romance sure, but it’s also about self-discovery, and friendship, and family and, of course, food.
Jalaluddin’s Detective Aunty is an unpredictable-in-the-best-way mystery about a middle-aged woman who uses her societal invisibility and her eye for detail to help solve a murder that her daughter has been accused of committing. Lots of food in here too, and a notable amount of chai as well. I never knew where the story was going until it got there and yet it all made sense in the end. An amazing contribution to the genre.
Thanks for reading! See you next month.
J.W.
Instagram : @JenniferWhitefordWrites
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